Summary Points

• Notice the following characteristics of “Christian” perspectives:
  • They are rooted in religious traditions that represent different ideas about the relation between faith and culture.
  • They are variable attempts to merge moral and religious principles with democratic values and market realities.
  • They pivot on two religiously derived principles that exist in tension.
• Critical approaches are theories or ways of thinking about film.
• The main concern in this book is with the essential relationship between form, content, style, and perspective as a framework of expectations for thinking about film.
• One way to analyze narrative films is to think of them as imaginative maps of reality.
• Thinking of movies as imaginative guides serves three purposes: (1) to draw attention to the film’s constructed character, (2) to blend the apparent audio-visual world of the film with its cultural landscape, and (3) to highlight the important role the cinema plays as a cultural conversation partner.
• The idea of perspective, or outlook, is both a principled and practical way of talking about movies and meaning.
• This study explores three related motifs: film as popular art, as culture, and as commercial product.
• This book highlights the benefits of a faith-informed approach that blends art and perspective. The aim is to heighten aesthetic appreciation with a deeper understanding of the ways film expresses meaning and conveys perspectives.

Movie Clips

God Makes an Uncredited Appearance, Caddyshack (1980)

Groundhog Day... Again (1993) HD

Sidebar: Film and Christian Perspectives

Within the broad Christian tradition, attitudes about Hollywood as an institution vary widely, as do approaches to film in general. To see this, you only need to look at reviews in publications like the Christian Century (Protestant), Christianity Today (Evangelical), Commonweal (Catholic), or Plugged In (conservative Evangelical). The types of movies reviewed, critical priorities and parameters, and questions addressed reveal underlying assumptions about cinema. Plugged In, for example, “looks at films through a biblical worldview filter, keeping families—especially those with children in the home—ultimately in mind.” Reviewers are “information providers” who highlight “positive and negative content elements” to equip “families (and individuals) with information they can draw upon to assist in making media decisions.” Apparently, content and presentation outweigh artistic merit; the more family friendly a film is, the higher the rating.¹ In much the same manner, the Media Review Office of the Catholic News Service classifies movies to help parents and adults “make informed decisions in accord with Catholic values.”²

Christian Century critics do not provide ratings, but consider films as artful narratives, highlighting themes and insights relating to theology, culture, and social justice. Commonweal reviewers take much the same approach, focusing on artistic merit and social discourse and on providing an interpretive slant on the film’s rhetorical argument. Christianity Today critics variously consider film form and substance, probing themes with an evangelical lens. More consumer minded than Christian Century or Commonweal, CT reviews include a starred rating and story summary. A footnote-like “Caveat Spectator” (formerly “The Family Corner”) nods to the magazine’s evangelical readers, letting them know about content or depictions they might find disturbing or off-putting, especially regarding language, sex, nudity, and violence.

We can apply the term “Christian” even more broadly to critics writing in national venues. The late Roger Ebert, long-renowned film critic at the Chicago Sun-Times, once blogged about his view of religion. He considered himself a Catholic “lock, stock and barrel, with this technical loophole: I cannot believe in God.”³ However unorthodox Ebert might have been theologically, his film criticism is imbued with fundamental biblical values acquired during his Catholic upbringing. Ann Hornaday, of the Washington Post, identifies herself as a “cradle Episcopalian.” She believes that film criticism is “both a venue and a crucible for exploring and expressing our deepest values,” but that it should not be turned into a “religious platform.” Anyone interested ought to be able to read her reviews “without feeling sermonized, excluded or disrespected.”⁴

In a Variety review of Noah (2014), Justin Chang writes that filmmaker Darren Aronofsky “approaches Scripture not with a purist’s reverence but with a provocateur’s respect, teasing out the hard, soul-searching questions that the Word of God, if you take it as such (and I do), was always meant to inspire.”⁵ The parenthetical note caught my attention, and also, I thought, informed his approach to this religiously contentious movie. Chang, who was raised in a Chinese Baptist church, considers himself a nondenominational Christian. Chief film critic at the Los Angeles Times now, he thinks of criticism as an art form itself and not merely “a consumer recommendation service.” He explains, “I don’t think it’s the job of art to tell you what to think.” Experiencing art is more about “being willing to embrace mystery and ambiguity.” He joins the chorus of critics who explore movies for understanding life’s mysteries and dilemmas and are therefore interested in weighing the films’ aesthetic and cultural merits.⁶

And there are many more writers, like Alissa Wilkinson (former chief critic at Christianity Today and currently a staff writer at Vox.com), and others deserving of mention, who demonstrate in their own way how faith might inform film criticism. They write for a range of publications and address different audiences; each has an individual style and interpretive slant, even as their criticism is informed in one way or another by their religious beliefs. And there are many critics whose religious convictions are unknown to me, and from whom I nevertheless glean insights into the religious, aesthetic, and cultural merits of movies. It’s not hard to find common ground among people with different vantage points who take movies seriously as popular art and culture.

1. “About Us: FAQ, What Are the Criteria You Use When Reviewing and Rating a Movie?” Plugged In, accessed July 23, 2016.
2. “About Movie Reviews,” Catholic News Service, accessed July 23, 2016.
3. Roger Ebert, “How I Am a Roman Catholic,” RogerEbert.com, March 1, 2013. See also Todd Rendleman, Rule of Thumb: Ebert at the Movies (New York: Continuum, 2012).
4. Ann Hornaday, “Essay: Confessions of a Christian Film Critic,” Washington Post, April 12, 2014.
5. Justin Chang, “Why ‘Noah’ Is the Biblical Epic That Christians Deserve,” Variety, March 31, 2014.
6. Ken Fong, “Justin Chang,” Asian America: The Ken Fong Podcast, podcast, December 6, 2016.

Fun Stuff

Justin Chang, “A Christian critic wrestles with new biblical films and the hope of a better ‘faith-based’ cinema,” Los Angeles Times, online edition, March 30, 2018.